The Epirote League was an ancient Greek

Ancient Greek

Ancient Greek is the stage of the Greek language in the periods spanning the times c. 9th–6th centuries BC, , c. 5th–4th centuries BC , and the c. 3rd century BC – 6th century AD of ancient Greece and the ancient world; being predated in the 2nd millennium BC by Mycenaean Greek...

  coalition (koinon

Koinon

Koinon , meaning "common" and interpreted as "commonwealth", "league" or "federation" were a number of associations of cities in ancient and early modern Greek history. The various federations termed Koinon were:...

) of Epirote communities.

History

The coalition was established between 370 and 320 BC, (firstly as Molossian league in 370 BC

370 BC

Year 370 BC was a year of the pre-Julian Roman calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Tribunate of Capitolinus, Medullinus, Praetextatus, Cornelius, Volusus and Poplicola...

), which helped unify the three main tribes of Epirus

Epirus

The name Epirus, from the Greek "Ήπειρος" meaning continent may refer to:-Geographical:* Epirus - a historical and geographical region of the southwestern Balkans, straddling modern Greece and Albania...

 (i.e. Molossians

Molossians

The Molossians were an ancient Greek tribe that inhabited the region of Epirus since the Mycenaean era. On their northeast frontier they had the Chaonians and to their southern frontier the kingdom of the Thesprotians, to their north were the Illyrians. The Molossians were part of the League of...

, Thesprotians

Thesprotians

The Thesprotians were an ancient Greek tribe of Thesprotis, Epirus, akin to the Molossians. The poet Homer frequently mentions Thesprotia which had friendly relations with Ithaca and Doulichi. On their northeast frontier they had the Chaonians and to the north the kingdom of the Molossians...

, and Chaonians

Chaonians

The Chaonians were an ancient Greek tribe that inhabited the region of Epirus located in the north-west of modern Greece and southern Albania. On their southern frontier lay another Epirote kingdom, that of the Molossians, to their southwest stood the kingdom of the Thesprotians, and to their...

). The political, economic, and cultural center of the Epirote League was Dodona

Dodona

Dodona in Epirus in northwestern Greece, was an oracle devoted to a Mother Goddess identified at other sites with Rhea or Gaia, but here called Dione, who was joined and partly supplanted in historical times by the Greek god Zeus.The shrine of Dodona was regarded as the oldest Hellenic oracle,...

. Dodone was the religious, political and cultural centre of the Molossian League and later of the Epirote League. Pyrrhus of Epirus

Pyrrhus of Epirus

Pyrrhus or Pyrrhos was a Greek general and statesman of the Hellenistic era. He was king of the Greek tribe of Molossians, of the royal Aeacid house , and later he became king of Epirus and Macedon . He was one of the strongest opponents of early Rome...

 became leader of the League in 297 BC

297 BC

Year 297 BC was a year of the pre-Julian Roman calendar. At the time it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Rullianus and Mus...

. When Corcyra was conquered by the king of Syracuse Agathocles

Agathocles

Agathocles , , was tyrant of Syracuse and king of Sicily .-Biography:...

, he offered the island as dowry to his daughter Lanassa

Lanassa (wife of Pyrrhus)

Lanassa was a daughter of king Agathocles of Syracuse, Sicily, perhaps by his second wife Alcia. In 295 BC Agathocles married Lanassa to King Pyrrhus of Epirus. Agathocles himself escorted his daughter with his fleet to Epirus to her groom. Lanassa brought the island of Corcyra as dowry into the...

 on her marriage to Pyrrhus of Epirus

Pyrrhus of Epirus

Pyrrhus or Pyrrhos was a Greek general and statesman of the Hellenistic era. He was king of the Greek tribe of Molossians, of the royal Aeacid house , and later he became king of Epirus and Macedon . He was one of the strongest opponents of early Rome...

. The island then became a member of the Epirote League. It was then perhaps that the settlement of Cassiope

Cassiope

Cassiope is a genus of 9-12 small shrubby species in the family Ericaceae. They are native to the Arctic and north temperate montane regions. Common names, shared with several other similar related genera, include heather and heath....

 was founded to serve as a base for the King of Epirus' expeditions. The island remained in the Epirotic alliance until 255 BC

255 BC

Year 255 BC was a year of the pre-Julian Roman calendar. At the time it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Nobilior and Paullus...

 when it became independent after the death of Alexander II of Epirus

Alexander II of Epirus

Alexander II was a king of Epirus, and the son of Pyrrhus and Lanassa, the daughter of the Sicilian tyrant Agathocles.-Reign:He succeeded his father as king in 272 BC, and continued the war which his father had begun with Antigonus II Gonatas, whom he succeeded in driving from the kingdom of Macedon...

.The Epirote league was ultimately dismantled around 170 BC

170 BC

Year 170 BC was a year of the pre-Julian Roman calendar. At the time it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Mancinus and Serranus...

.

Decrees of the League

Copies of the decrees (proxeny

Proxeny

Proxeny or Proxenia in ancient Greece was an arrangement whereby a citizen hosted foreign ambassadors at his own expense, in return for honorary titles from the state. The citizen was called Proxenos or Proxeinos...

 and citizenship decrees, manumission records) of the Molossian and Epirote League were set up in Dodona

Dodona

Dodona in Epirus in northwestern Greece, was an oracle devoted to a Mother Goddess identified at other sites with Rhea or Gaia, but here called Dione, who was joined and partly supplanted in historical times by the Greek god Zeus.The shrine of Dodona was regarded as the oldest Hellenic oracle,...

. All members had common citizenship. Regarding the dialect of the Epirote League, it was not Corinthian Doric and even the alphabet was not Corinthian; it was probably North-West Doric, as some recorded inquiries at Dodona

Dodona

Dodona in Epirus in northwestern Greece, was an oracle devoted to a Mother Goddess identified at other sites with Rhea or Gaia, but here called Dione, who was joined and partly supplanted in historical times by the Greek god Zeus.The shrine of Dodona was regarded as the oldest Hellenic oracle,...

 appear to indicate. The first epigraphical evidence of the Molossian league goes back to 370 BC

370 BC

Year 370 BC was a year of the pre-Julian Roman calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Tribunate of Capitolinus, Medullinus, Praetextatus, Cornelius, Volusus and Poplicola...

 under the king (basileus

Basileus

Basileus is a Greek term and title that has signified various types of monarchs in history. It is perhaps best known in English as a title used by the Byzantine Emperors, but also has a longer history of use for persons of authority and sovereigns in ancient Greece, as well as for the kings of...

) Neoptolemus

Neoptolemus I of Epirus

Neoptolemus I of Epirus was a king of Epirus and son of Alcetas I, and father of Alexander I of Epirus and Queen Olympias. He was a maternal grandfather of Alexander the Great...

.